Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre

December 12, 2006 11:17 AM

New Year's Eve in Paris... any ideas?

Girlfriend has booked our Euro Star tickets, it's my job to sort out the evening entertainment -- no trivial matter.

I went a couple of years ago, and in my naiveté ambled over to the Eiffel tower for midnight. Big mistake: champagne bottles in the air followed by huge riots. Excessively violent police response plus burnt out cars and pepper spray. Don't want to make that mistake again.

Budget is looking increasingly tight, by the way.

posted by verisimilitude to travel & transportation (3 comments total)

This may be way out of date but i spent a jolly New Years Eve on the rue de Lappe, which is full of bars and round the corner from Bastille. It could have changed in the intervening 12 years.

The other possibility would be rue Mouffetard, metro Place Monge, but I have no direct experience of NYE there.
posted by jontyjago at 11:55 AM on December 12, 2006

Hey- I was there at the Eiffel tower that night, too! I actually thought it was kind of fun . . .
For a different kind of fun, though, Rue de la Roquette just off the Bastille is really fun. Head north from the Bastille metro stop, the main drag of bars [Rue de Lappe] crosses Rue de la Roquette about 1.5 blocks up. My favorite bar is on Rue de Lappe off to the right- Bar a Nannette. There's a dancing lady painted on the window, the decor is slightly old world brothel style, and the big TV in the back plays nature documentaries. Caveat- this was 2.5 years ago now, it may have changed.

For a mellower night: Sing Sing, which is a jazz lounge below a fancy-ish Chinese restaurant to the east of the bastille. When I was there, there was no cover even on the weekends; I can't vouch for New Year's Eve cheapness, though. I can't for the life of me remember the road it's on. Maybe someone else can help?
posted by ohio at 7:53 PM on December 12, 2006

Thanks both for your answers.

We went to the Rue de Lappe and it was perfect.
posted by verisimilitude at 6:02 AM on March 21, 2007